one week to go. debt limit talks hit another snag, as house and senate leaders begin working on rival backup plans. nation in mourning. norway remembers the victims of its worst-ever peacetime atalk. and deep space oasis. i'm amara sohn. this is "first look" on msnbc. we begin with this morning with running out of time.

it was a working weekend in washington, as the president met with congressional leaders, trying do come up with a plan on tackling the debt limit. but in a sign of the deep division on capitol hill, two rival plans now appear to be in the works. the for more, we go to nbc's tracie potts in washington. >> reporter: good morning. we're starting to see some signs that this gridlock in washington is not good for wall street. asian markets opened lower this morning, shaken that washington could be on the verge of its first-ever default. the big question now, how might wall street react this morning? >> it's unthinkable that this country will not meet its obligations on time. it's just unthinkable that we'd ever do that. >> reporter: a market slide could affect what you pay for mortgages, car loans, financing college. right now, washington is stuck on the timing. democrats and republicans want

to tighten this up now. >> i don't think they have they choice. >> reporter: republicans want a short-term deal. cut $1 trillion now. and then, more cuts through the elections. >> and not some short-term gimmick. >> i know the president's worried about this next election. my god. shouldn't we be worried about the country? >> reporter: speaker boehner told conservatives to be ready to make compromises. >> if you break it, you own it. >> reporter: has the world been looking at all of this? one english official says right-wing nutters, as he calls them, in congress, are causing more of a problem for the economic economy than the crisis in europe. the man accused in the massacre and bomb attack in norway, is asking for an open-court hearing so he can

explain himself, due to his lawyer. this is a shaken nation that mourns the victims who died. >> reporter: in a country struggling to comprehend the events of the past days, there's few rituals to bring comfort. but hour after hour, in the driving rain, the people of norway have lit candles and laid flowers in memory of their dead. they seek solace together. but it is a terrible, shaned pain. some of those who were injured in the ireland attack, join with norway's king and queen, to try to come to order with the massacre in this country. this was the worst peacetime attack norway has ever seen.

the prime minister struggled to contain his obvious distress. on the verge of tears he told a stunned nation, every, single one of those we have lost is a tragedy in itself. together, it is a national tragedy. as he spoke, the king and queen wept, as the dead, so many, so young, were remembered. and this is the man who says he caused such heartbreak. a right-wing extremist, who admits the youth camp massacre and the oslo bombing. that bombing targeted the government. but it wasn't those in power who died. norway's death toll is

frighteningly high. but there is a fear it will raise again. many of the buildings behind me are too damaged to search. and are believed to contain more bodies. a one-man campaign has an entire nation questioning how they can move forward from here. here's your first look at some of the other news going on around america today. wedding bells rang throughout new york on sunday. from the big apple to niagara falls, same-sex couples took the plunge, taking advantage of landmark legislation that permits gays to marry in the state. scores of gay and lesbian couples said i do. new york is the sixth and largest state to allow same-sex marriage. hundreds turned out in california's imperial beach to watch a group of artists playing in the sand. each craftsmen churned out

amazing works of art. this year, 32 teams competed for a $21,000 grand prize. finally, in florida, several men did their best impersonation of ernest hemingway. the annual contest pitted 1 hundred clones of the writer against one another. the winner, a biomedical engineer, along with his looks, he shared his fondness for sport fishing and writing. now, for a look for the national weather, we turn to bill cairns for the forecast. >> good morning, amara. >> if you've been down to the keys, there's tons of cats walking around. and the cats do the sunset show. memories in key west. i could be here all day talking about those. good morning, everyone.

the big story of the heat wave is shrinking back down. some of us are going to get relief. but not all of us. the heat wave that was on the east coast, has retreated back to texas, oklahoma and into the plains. the worst of the heat will be centered where the blue "h" is. in the east, we're lucky. the jet stream is dipping a little bit. there's a cold front in canada. and that's going to give a lot of us relief. more clouds than what we've seen. we don't see heat warnings or advisories in the northeast. the heat index will be a little high today. but all of the warming weather, through st. louis and missouri. down through the tulsa area. and heat advisories from oklahoma city to dallas. it's a warm morning. don't get me wrong. it's not like the heat is completely gone. it's just humid out there. right now, we're in the 70s, just about everywhere. we're still in the 80s for your

morning low in d.c. the pavement holds in the heat. and at night, it hasn't been able to cool off. the heat index feels like 88 this morning when you walk outside. and in dallas, it feels like 89. how are we going to do today? today's high temperatures, once again, above 100. from oklahoma city to dallas. and this will be the 24th day in a row, for dallas to be 100 degrees-plus. they're going one after another. that's going to continue all week. we're cooler today in new york city. that's more like it. from d.c. southwards, we still have the heat. once the showers and the storms come late today, you'll get your relief. and tomorrow should be a little better. as far as today's forecast, carry an umbrella. it's the afternoon pop-up showers or storms that will hit. that will be from new york city, to baltimore, oerd. we're dry in the middle of the country, if you want great weather, minneapolis from

wisconsin to chicago. the heat builds on tuesday and then should cool off a little bit. the heat's not over with. but we're not seeing historical heat like we did last week. >> that's a relief in some aspects. thank you. how no debt deal is affecting markets. what ipo to look for on wall street. and what not to do when you think you've been sold is a lemon. [ diane lane ] is your anti-wrinkle cream gone...

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welcome back to "first look." i'm amara sohn. according to "the washington post," a military-led investigation has concluded that taxpayer money has the been indirectly funneled to the taliban. the report that focuses on a transportation contract says there's been cases of money

laundering and kickbacks given to afghan officials and police. secretary of state hillary clinton says a senior north korean official will visit the u.s. this week to discuss the possible resumption of long-stalled talks on ending pyongyang's nuclear programs. sources say congressman david wu won't run for re-election. but won't resign, either. house democratic leader, nancy pelosi, is seeking an ethics investigation into the accusations. and astronomers have found the largest and farthest reservoir of water ever detected. the water is 140 trillion times all of the water in the earth's ocean. it surrounds a black hole, billions of light years away. the dow opens at 12,681, after falling 43 points on

friday. the s&p gained 1 point. and the nasdaq rose 24. looking at overseas trading this morning, in tokyo, the nikkei lost 82 points. while in hong song, the hang seng dipped. sign posts point to where the economy may be headed for the foreseeable future. number one will be the debt ceiling deal or lack of one. looking for volatility of wall street to pick up, the longer the stalemate lasts. an overnight asian trade, the euro gained against the dollar. the dollar fell to a low against the yen. wall street futures fell. and gold hit a new all-time high. the most important data will be a first reading of u.s. growth for the second quarter. expected to show the economy grew at the same meager rate as it did in the first quarter, 1.9%. sunday, treasury secretary timothy geithner was lowering expectations, while stressing

optimism things will pick up. still, one fund manager pointed out that every time year on year growth is under 2%, where we are so far, the economy has gone into recession. earnings will again be in focus. today, we'll hear from netflix. tuesday, amazon. automakers ford and chrysler and u.p.s. this week is loaded with 12 ipos. the average price of gas jumped 9 cents a gallon over the past two weeks. finally, a massachusetts man angry the car dealer who sold him a lemon wouldn't take it back intentionally crashed into seven cars at the dealership, causing an estimated $20,000 damage. the state consumer affairs office suggested he should have called their hotline. in health news this morning, a new study suggests many

uninformed voters cast their ballots based on candidates' looks, especially frequent tv watchers. researchers found among those least knowledgeable, a ten-point increase in a candidate's appearance yielded a boost in support from those who watched the most television. for information on this and other health stories, check out the health page at msnbc.com. a cyclist from down under comes up big. who is new in baseball's hall of fame? and almost every possible way to win in a walkoff. plus, a san diego outfielder makes about as good a catch as you'll ever see. [ male announcer ] this is the network. a network of possibilities. excuse me? my grandfather was born in this village. [ automated voice speaks foreign language ] [ male announcer ] in here, everyone speaks the same language. ♪ in here, forklifts drive themselves. no, he doesn't have it. yeah, we'll look on that.

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and i only need to talk to one person about her care. we're more than 78,000 people looking out for 70 million americans. that's health in numbers. unitedhealthcare. welcome back to "first look." in sports, will there or won't there be a football season? here's mario solis. >> we get closer to an nfl season. the latest news coming with the players approving the owners' cba proposal. all that's left is a vote. roy halladay had to leave a game because of heat exhaustion. yesterday, he was scorching hot. but the play of the game was turned in by christian denorthia. unfortunately, not enough phillies win, 5-3.

to cincinnati, reds and braves tied at 3-3 in the ninety. first batter and pitch of the inning gone. drew stubs with a walkoff solo shot. subs and castros, tied at 4-4 in the tenth. marlon byrd with a fly ball to right. hunter pence loses it in the sun. byrd is safe at third. jeff baker ropes a single down the line. cubs walk off with a 5-4 win. from one walk off to another. cards and pirates. the deep fly ball and delivers. xavier paul scores. the baseball hall of fame inducted three new members. roberto alomar. blyleven. and the pet gillic all immortalized. a new member to the list of

camps at the tour de france. cadel evans is the toast of paris. becoming the first aussie to win the tour de france. that's your first look at sports. now, for another quick look at the weather, here's nbc meteorologist bill karins with the weather frost. >> good morning. compared to friday when it was 104 degrees in areas like new york city, we'll take 76. this is the coolest temperatures we've seen in five days out there. it's not refreshing. but it's better than what we were at. if you're in northern new england, you're cooler and are going to get some rain today. but d.c., you're at 81. it's the one spot we're having trouble cooling off. the clouds and radar map is, the green is where the showers are. some coming down over lake ontario and lake erie. today will be a cooler today. and the clouds will be appreciated. today's forecast, there's a chance of a thunderstorm mixed

in with the showers. it's not going to rain everywhere. typical thunderstorms and showers, hit and miss. temperatures will be kept down because of the clouds. what's going to happen this week in areas like d.c. the coolest temperatures are today and tomorrow. and then, the heat is going to build again towards the end of the week. not as bad as last week. but i'm sure 95 to 100, is not going to feel as comfortable by thursday and friday. the humidity will return. the rest of the country, showers and storms. and the heat in the east has retreated back to the middle of the country. texas by far, the worst of it. looks like it will be this way maybe until the fall. >> bill, thank you. was the fifth superhero movie of the sum one too many? your first look at entertainment is straight ahead. you're watching "first look."

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welcome back to "first look." friday night, on "late night with jimmy fallon," jimmy pointed out, it's never a good sign when your bank hits you up for a bailout. >> bank of america announced it lost $9 million in the second quarter. that's not good. when i put my card in the atm, it said, do you mind if i borrow that. your personality can determine your weight gain. and the u.s. postal service will start offering online previews of the stamps in its 2012

collection. yeah. that's right. stamp previews. finally answering the question, what's more boring than stamps? stamp brewskis and look at stamps. >> don cheadle, zach braff and the amazing kreskin. that's jimmy fallon, 11:30, 12:35 central time on your local nbc station. your "first look" at entertainment news. "captain america" muscled his way to the top of the box office this weekend. the first avenger opened up number one, stronger than expected, with over $65 million. and a 64% male audience. it was the fifth of five superhero movies this summer.

all debuted in the top spot. "harry potter and the deathly hallows" part 2, had $48 million. its audience dropped 72% from its opening last weekend. the other big release, "friends with benefits" starring justin timberlake and mila kunis opened third. and was slightly less than expected at $18.5 million. "no strings attached" a similar comedy debuted just under $20 million. were you one of the men who wanted to be a superhero. >> 64% men. we had 36% female. >> who were dragged to the theater. they were there for their men. >> maybe they collected comic books, too. >> and maybe these men want to be superheros. >> what superheros do we have left? >> they're running out of topics.

bill, thank you. i'm amara sohn. this is "first look" on msnbc. stay tuned, "way too early" with willie geist starts right now. so, i'm gan for a full week. and you people haven't sorted out the debt deal? the proposal from the house. one from the senate. and another day of white house meets. the question remains the same. will there be a bipartisan deal this week to help the country begin to balance its books? time's wasting. the monster that blew up government buildings in oslo that kill 92 people asked for an opportunity to give his reasons in open court. will the judge let this man react in public. and the world reacts